Andrew Garfield has been talking a lot lately about his tenure as Spider-Man coming to an abrupt end, and while he’s shied away from sharing his thoughts on the failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and how he was unceremoniously dropped by Sony when they made that deal with Marvel, it’s clear that the actor is disappointed by the way things turned out.

Talking recently to promote his next film 99 Homes, Garfield was asked to reflect on how he felt being Spider-Man, and what he has to say about his desire to save the franchise is very telling.

Well, nothing, because I was never Spider-Man. Because Spider-Man’s a fictional character. He’s not real. [laughs] You know what’s funny, to give you the vulnerable answer, I thought I was going to be Spider-Man, you know? I went into it going…ego shit came in. It’s like, “Okay, here it is. I’m f***ing Spider-Man. I f***ing made it.” All that shit. [laughs] I didn’t actually make it. I was never Spider-Man.

I was the actor that I am. The person that I am. Struggling with trying to match up with something that I’d elevated so high in my mind. Elevated beyond what I could attain, what I could achieve. The great thing is, that’s what Peter Parker was doing as well. Peter Parker created this symbol that he couldn’t live up to. It was never enough. He never felt enough, and I never felt enough. I never felt like I was able to do enough. And I couldn’t rescue those films…even though I didn’t sleep. [laughs]

And I wanted to…not to say that I needed to rescue those films, but I couldn’t make them as deep and soulful and…life-giving as I could ever dream. And I’m never gonna be able to do that, with any film. It was especially difficult in that situation because…well, just because. And it was especially important because that character has always meant so much to me, and you saw that if you saw the Comic Con thing, which, thank you for reminding me about that.

It’s clear that the actor isn’t happy with the over the top direction of the sequel which led to much of the criticism aimed its way. Like Spider-Man 3, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach forced in as many villains and subplots into The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as possible, a strategy which backfired in a major way for a second time.

You’ve got to feel sorry for Andrew based on comments like these, but when you take into account that we’re now going to see Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with next year’s Captain America: Civil War, it’s hard to get too upset about this whole situation…